Janitors rally for cheaper insurance

Lisle-based firm's medical plan too costly, workers say

April 24, 2002|By Kevin Lynch, Tribune staff reporter.

Workers from a Lisle-based janitorial service who are trying to pressure their employer to provide cheaper health insurance took their message Tuesday to the service's largest customer, Naperville-based Tellabs Inc.

Speaking at Tellabs' annual shareholders meeting, janitor Rosalinda Perez said Cleaner Living Services doesn't pay enough for her to sign up for the insurance plan offered by the company.

"I make $13,000 a year and I have no health insurance," said Perez, who works at Tellabs' Bolingbrook offices.

"With the money we earn, we are forced to make many difficult choices," such as choosing between trips to the doctor or trips to the grocery, she said.

Outside the meeting in Tellabs' Naperville facility, about a half-dozen of the company's 60 employees assigned to Tellabs buildings pounded plastic buckets and held signs that said "Justice for janitors."

They were joined by about 40 supporters, including officials and members of Local 1 of the Service Employees International Union, which is informally representing some of the janitors.

Union organizers hoped that Tuesday's protest would either persuade the company to change its insurance plan or persuade Tellabs to hire a different cleaning service that provides affordable health insurance. That firm could then hire the employees to continue working at Tellabs.

Cleaner Living Services offers a Blue Cross/Blue Shield PPO plan that requires employees to pay 50 percent of the premiums, or roughly $100 a month, said company co-founder Paul T'Koy.

Union organizers contend that employee contributions under the plan are closer to $180 a month.

T'Koy said fewer than half of his employees opt for the PPO plan, which is why he is trying to establish a more affordable plan for his 160 janitors, who earn $7.65 per hour. He hopes that an HMO plan in the works could bring employee contributions down to $50 per month.

"I could never pay 100 percent of the premiums," T'Koy said. "I would go out of business."

When asked about the issue during a question-and-answer session for Tellabs shareholders Tuesday, Chairman Michael Birck said the dispute was between Cleaner Living Services and its employees.

"We feel a little bit mystified by all the activity going on here," Birck said of the protest. "We're just kind of an innocent party as we see it."

When union organizer Dan Schlademan tried to raise the issue a second time, he was shouted down by stockholders.

After the shareholders' meeting, Tellabs spokeswoman Jean Medina would not say whether the company, which designs and builds telecommunications hardware, has considered hiring other janitorial services or would consider it.